Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 7, 1 Iulai 1997 — Niʻihau: Reports of missiles activate concerns [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Niʻihau: Reports of missiles activate concerns

continued from page 1 missiles to knoek out short-range offensive missiles such as the Scuds used by Iraq in the Gulf War. To simulate real-world experience, testing would require launches of targets from several directions to be shot down at sea. KauaYs base at Barking Sands was chosen as test headquarters because of its openoeean area and proximity to Navy assets. The Navy is considering launeh sites at the Barking Sands base along with mobile air and sea-borne launches. The NaHonal Pnuirnnmpnbl Polin/ Arf rprmirp<i "all ^ m

reasonable sites" be considered, so it is also studying possible new sites on Niihau, Johnston and Tern islands. "We think it's very unlikely that the Navy's going to have to use the new land-based sites," such as NiMhau, said Jim Irwin of the Program Executive Office for Theater Air Defense in Crys- | tal City, Virginia. "When you have an

existing Navy Base (PMRF) and existing mobile military programs, I don't know why you would need it on a very controversial plaee." At the Waimea meeting, and others held elsewhere on KauaM

and Ovahu, the Navy solicited suggestions from the pubhc for issues to cover in its draft environmental impact statement. The study will identify possible environmental, socioeconomic, health and safety impacts of the various alternatives as well as ways to mitigate them. The draft EIS should be complete by late this year or

early 1998, and then go out for public comment. A final version would be approved later next year. If NPihau were selected, the Navy would eonstruct one or two launeh sites resting on concrete pads measuring at most 150 feet by 150 feet. Sites have been identified at either end of the island, well away from Pu'uwai, the village that is home to Ni'ihau's 230 people. The Navy also might build a 6,000-foot runway on the southern part of the island to facilitate moving equipment. Navy personnel would visit the island to set up and monitor eaeh launeh but

would not stay there. Roughly six launches a year are anticipated for the entire program, although there could be as many as 12 annual- » ly, Irwin said. Only a fraction of those, at most, would be from NPihau. The Navy has hired a consultant to keep NiMhau's people apprised of the proposal and take their concerns into account. Several NPihau residents at the meeting said they were still gathering information about the project and hadn't

formed an opinion. "My main eoneem was whether the area where they are going to send the missiles will be restricted to us, the people," Josephine Kelley, a Ni ihau grandmother, said. "I got the answer that no, it would be only on the days of the launeh... I'm also concerned about the fishing. If they do launeh the missiles, will it affect the oeean, the fishes?" Ni ihau already has an unmanned Navy radar station. The $275,000 annual maintenance contract for it is a substantial source of ineome for islanders, and the Robinson family hopes further Navy support work will bolster the financially strapped NiMhau Ranch. The family subsidizes ranch operations to the hme of $100,000 or more a year, according to Keith Robinson. "The expense of maintaining a workforce that is two or three times larger than we actually need — just in an attempt to keep the community there together — is enormous," Robinson said. He contended that the new Navy work would merely be an extension of previous activities, noting that Ni ihau has hosted defense projects dating back to the 1930s that were not made public. "We're not talking about anything particularly new," he said. "The only thing new is that the law now forces us to do an environmental impact statement" and inform the public. He also served notice that his family would not abide interference in its affairs, denouncing what he called racially motivated harassment by a segment of "Hawaiian activists." " We will aggressively defend our constitutional rights," he said, "to do honest business on our property."

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